"What doesn't change is that I've had the smartest, most loyal, most passionate, most articulate group of - I'm not even gonna say fans. I'm going with 'peeps' - that any cult oddity such as my bad self could have dreamt of," Whedon wrote.

"When almost no one was watching, when people probably should have stopped watching, I've had three constants: my family and friends, my collaborators (often the same), and y'all. A lot of stories have come out about my 'dark years', and how I'm 'unrecognised'...

"I love these stories, because they make me seem super-important, but I have never felt the darkness (and I'm ALL about my darkness) that they described."

Whedon continued: "I have so much. I have people, in my life, on this site, in places I've yet to discover, that always made me feel the truth of success: an artist and an audience communicating."

Whedon also admitted that he would "feel sad" if Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises exceeds The Avengers' unprecedented box office success, but went on to say that the success of superhero films is a "boon" to everyone involved in the genre.

"The Avengers is notably imperfect, which makes its success mean so much more to me - because it's striking a chord that matters more than its obvious flaws," he continued. "Like the team, it appears to be more than the sum of its parts. Boo-yah!"